Sometimes the simple, tangible, holistic principles of spirit are overlooked as our planet continues its endless rotation.
A quest for all that is real but not real consumes humanity as we strive to thrive and survive in this world of our making.
Man against man is the classic tale that continues to divide our world and give rise to endless conflict.
Most evident in war ravaged countries and splashed across the media daily, we in many ways have become acclimatised to the drama.
In Tasmania we are far removed from the carnage, but men here still feel they must dominate each other and indeed nature itself.
As I sit here writing, sipping on my morning brew laced with Tasmania’s finest honey sourced from the fragrant “Bursaria Spinosa”, I think how countless bees have worked in harmony to produce this lush nectar.
Imagine if those bees had divided into groups and decided to work one against the other in a bid to secure all the nectar.
Like much of our community, perhaps my brew would be bitter and without sweet fragrance?
In Tasmania we have endured a war of sorts, a deep division of community perpetuated by government and business who have worked locked in step to entrench the simplistic notion of clearfell forestry and domination of man over man and nature at large.
Lately the collapse and angst created by the “round table” paradigm that was always doomed to fail has only seeded further division within our community.
Why can bees have a seamless manner in which to thrive and produce, yet man with all the means at his disposal shines only as a bumbling self centred fool?
I think greed and ego combined with the bounty that surrounds us unite against the goodness within man to create the folly we embrace as our way of life.
It almost seems inherent that man must dominate nature as if it were some sort of right that one species must apply his twisted logic over all others.
Now we see the latest development in the so called “Forest Wars”, where labelled “green groups” are at odds with each other, perhaps in a bid to fluff their egos in such a way to flaunt their superiority on the big stage alongside industry players.
So what has and is being achieved in the forests theses days?
From a community perspective, it seems that industry is collapsing under its own weight and indeed internal wrangling from the forest miners mirrors that of the green groups.
The friction and angst has actually increased as facilitators try to mesh polar paradigms without any change of mindset.
As old as time I know, but real change can only come from within and with no ego, no agenda but for the good of all men.
Personally I believe many still have a long way to fall before they will take stock and realise that they are on a path that leads nowhere.
Gunns had it all and have failed miserably at the challenge, while Greens have become blinded by ambition and are sliding on a gentle curve into the abyss with a government that is led by those of little consequence.
Where will all this end?
I believe there will be no end as such, but a slow awakening that will evolve and morph into whatever world we can make it and with a massive and expanding number of communities who remain disgusted at how we have been corralled and manipulated, the change we witness is dynamic and fruitful and pleasing to me when I think of my children and grandchildren and the world they stand to inherit.
So mine is a tale of hope, an offering to those who are on these paths to nowhere, a plea to them personally to forget the past, to dream of the future as a place united and in harmony and bless and use today to look within to find a way to feel opposing viewpoints and work toward the good of each other.
We don’t need forest mining, we don’t need all our forest locked away, but we do need fruitful and harmonious lives that engage and inspire, creating endless opportunities for all communities.
So to all you who have been gifted the responsibility of what happens to community, changed with the stroke of your pen, please embed this quote at the fore of all your thoughts.
“When everybody wins, nobody loses”
